Kant and his relevance to modern Indonesian society

Christina Schott, Contributor, Jakarta

"He encouraged and gently guided people toward self-assessment," wrote German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder once about his teacher, Immanuel Kant.

No other philosopher of the 18th century enjoyed, during his own lifetime, as much appreciation as Kant did for his fundamentally new approach to thinking -- postulated in, among others, his main works Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical Reason and Critique of Judgment.

"I ought never to act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law, stated Kant in his famous Categorical Imperative developed in the 1770s.

Now, 200 years after his death, Germany commemorates its philosophical hero of the Enlightenment with the "year of Kant".

For the Goethe Institut Jakarta that is reason enough for organizing a two-day symposium in honor of the philosopher in cooperation with the Research Center of the College of Philosophy Driyarkara in Jakarta.

Its title, "Toward a Global Civil Society? Kantian and Islamic Thinking on Morale and Politics", shows the strong will of the organizers to build a bridge between old theories and actual issues -- between European thinking on the Enlightenment and the values of the Islamic world.

"These old texts are still very relevant to modern times", said Marla Stukenberg, head of the cultural program department of the Goethe Institut. "It is fascinating how many answers and starting points one still can find in it."

One of the texts, the Perpetual Peace, will be translated into Indonesian especially for the symposium and printed by Mizan publishing house, Bandung.

This relatively short political essay deals with justice, tolerance and morality, the role of the public and the organization of society, as well as with the idea of an international law based on a "federation of free republics" to enable a just world order -- similar to the structure of the United Nations.

Based on this text, five speakers from Indonesia and Germany will present their own thoughts. First, Professor Matthias Lutz- Bachmann from the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Frankfurt will read his paper, Human Rights, Political Democracy and the Global Order: Reflections on the Consequences of Kant's Practical Philosophy in a Globalizing World.

Building a bridge between Kant's ideas and Indonesian reality, Professor Franz Magnis-Suseno from the Driyarkara School of Philosophy will deliver a lecture, Javanese Ideas on Power and Kants Republicanism. "On first impression, Kant's republicanism seems totally contrary to what the Javanese traditionally understand of power," Franz Magnis writes in his paper. But he concludes, "Javanese moral intuitions will serve as a bridge between Javanese traditional ideas on power and Kant's republicanism".

It is important to build a bridge to Indonesian perceptions in order to put Kantian theories within the context of modern Islamic values.

Professor Amin Abdullah from Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) in Yogyakarta will compare the fundamental structure of theological rationality in the Islamic world with the philosophical rationality represented by Kant and Western traditions of thinking.

One important question under this topic will be if religious, causal thinking has to be understandable and duplicated by a universal public.

German Professor Franz Nuscheler from the Institute for Development and Peace at the University of Duisburg, on the other hand, will discuss whether Kant's concept of Global Governance is still a romantic vision, or if it is partly realized in modern international politics.

Finally, Goenawan Mohamad, writer and founder of Tempo magazine, will talk about Kant's notion of "Immaturity", his ideas on autonomy and freedom, his description of reason and justice.

To put Kantian points of view within an Indonesian context, Goenawan plans to interpret a poem by Chairil Anwar and a speech on human rights by Soekarno -- an interesting experiment.

All in all, the dense, highbrow program of this symposium is a challenge, not only for the organizers, but also for the participants. But, despite the "difficult" subject, many positive reactions from different parts of Indonesia have raised expectations that the event may even attract guests from other cities in Java, Bali and Sulawesi.

"I hope that the different topics find their way together in the discussions following each lecture and that we can progress from Kant's philosophizing to actual questions and problems", says Marla Stukenberg.

"Our wish is to encourage intercultural and interreligious dialog and to enforce people to reassess themselves, as Kant has done for two centuries all over the world."

Toward a Global Civil Society Symposium in honor of Immanuel Kant

Invitation only, 17 Dec. 2004 (2 p.m. to 6 pm) Sekolah Tinggi Filsafat Driyarkara

Open to the public, 18 Dec. 2004 (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) Bentara Budaya Jakarta, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 17, Jakarta Pusat

Further information: Goethe Institut Jakarta, Jl. Samratulangi 9- 15, Jakarta Pusat tel. 23550208, e-mail: pr@jakarta.goethe.org, website: www.goethe.de/jakarta